redington new logo

A couple of my favorite companies in the fly fishing industry changed their logos in recent months. While each company made changes to different degrees, both Sage and Redington added a new excitement to their respective brands as they unveiled new products to the market this year. These new logos served to spice things up a bit- give folks something to talk about. Oh, and also to strengthen their brands in a competitive market.

Sage: Old Logo

Sage: New Logo

Redington: Old Logo

Redington: New Logo

I hate to let the other kids have all the fun, so I recently began pondering a new brand identity for the Unaccomplished Angler. The logo that has been in service since the inception of this blog has served it’s purposes well enough, though admittedly it hasn’t gained much any critical acclaim. As a logo I believe it has perhaps too much going on and because of this it fails to really stand out. As a professional designer of logos I should have known better. But honestly, when designing for oneself, it’s all too easy to allow sound judgment to fall by the wayside and not see things objectively. Designing for others is much easier in many ways, not the least of which is the fact that I am a horribly demanding client. And I don’t pay well.

Speaking to the true essence of what defines the Unaccomplished Angler was the ultimate goal in creating this new brand: without words to describe the logo, does the image really say what the Unaccomplished Angler is all about? Creating something unique so as to stand out amongst the competition was also of equal importance.

With this criteria in mind, the design is based loosely on the famous image of a sullen Indian warrior sitting atop his equally haggard mount, titled End of the Trail. Nothing conjures up image of defeat quite so effectively.

Here are the old and proposed new logo for the Unaccomplished Angler. Please chime in with your opinions, not that they matter.